Speakers

Rudi Daelmans has been Sustainability Director at Desso since 2007

His 28-year career at Desso started on the production line, packing carpet tiles into boxes. From there Rudi progressed to production line manager, before moving to the Research and Development department where he spent 15 years before moving on to his present position. When accepting the new role in 2007, it was his responsibility to develop and implement a new sustainability vision further into the company.

He completed the sustainability vision for the company around about the same time as attending a conference where Michael Braungart spoke about the Cradle to Cradle cycle, which then led Desso down this path. What Rudi liked so much about Cradle to Cradle that for the first time it was a logical cycle where the manufacturer had to take some responsibility for the waste it was putting on the market, and that the whole process from the raw materials to the chemicals used in the production process needed to be reviewed and evaluated against what impact they would be having on the environment.

Rudi has a constant battle on his hand trying to implement Cradle to Cradle into Desso as the right balance needs to be struck in terms of customers expectation of the final products against quality, price, functionality and Cradle to Cradle principles. Rudi arranged for all the staff to be educated on the Cradle to Cradle cycle and everyone at Desso has met with Michael Braungart. A whole new channel is communications and marketing for him and balancing the need to educate the outside world without green washing